"The midwives were nice and chatty ..."

The midwives were nice and chatty but seemed to be telling us wha what we wanted to hear.

I.e it will be easier this time,It wont be as bad as last time and he should deliver easily.

What could be improved

My wife became diabetic and has been taking insulin during this pregnancy,She was brought early because of size and induced at 38 weeks and 3 days,She was in labour for 28 hours,Active "Pushing" for 2 hours 5 mins.

She had a troubled labour wih our first born,Forceps delivery with an epidural,This labour turned out exactly the same way,She was given an epidural after having excrutiating lower back and rectal pain,This took the pain away,When it came for her to push,They said 1 hour will be about the max she will push for,Then if no joy we may look at a section,She knew the last birth was a stuggle as she even read our notes to us.

They kept her pushing for 2 hours,By this time it was too late for a section,Baby was nearly out but stuck,His head was showing inside but stuck there for 20 mins,Doc then came in with foreceps,They got the babies head out but again he was stuck,Then they cut her so baby could pass,She was in agony,2 midwives were holding her down,1 each side,One then rammed her head into her chest,Another was next to the doc delivering,A screen was put up with another doc and nurse behind for baby when he came out,One of the midwives was stood back crying,Not because of Joy,The baby was not even out,She was crying because of the pain they were putting my partner through and how traumatic it was.

Baby arrived and checked over,He has substantial bruising to his head from forecps,Also his right arm bruised from wrist to shoulder at the back,Also on the right side of his body Hip to shoulder,This is because he was stuck in such a tight spot too long,Or just ragged by the doctor during extraction.

The doc also cut an artery when he cut her,She lost 630 ml of blood,May not sound alot but you tip 2 cans of fizzy pop all over the floor and see the mess and ground it covers, She was stitched back up, God knows how many she has been given, Baby weighs 8Lb 14oz, A bit smaller than our 1st (9lb 5) But the birth was 10 tines worse.

Anything else?

My wife is still in hospital now,She gave birth on 15/6/2010 and as i write this it is 17/6/2010.They asked if she needed councelling because of the trauma she was put through,She refused,Asked again the next day when they fitted a Kafata as she could not walk and was so swollen down below, Yet last night from 9pm they checked on her just once at 11pm to give her painkillers and medication,So in 12 hours they checked on a woman who they believe needed councelling just once.

The sheets have not been changed on her bed now since she has been in it (Tuesday) Today is thursday,They are blood stained from her weeping down below,Also the sheets in the babys cot have never been changed,Blood stain on and also dried blood from his head are on the sheets.

One of the midwives have also been just seconds ago and asked why my partner thinks this was a traumatic delivery,Maybe she should ask her colleague who was crying and she can fill her in.

She asked was it because of the amount of people who she brought in the room and said she only did that because she feared the baby would get stuck,Which he was!!

Go anywhere other than leighton to have your baby,What should be a happy time has been horrendous,When you are thinking during birth you dont care about the baby anymore and you just want your partner out of this hell,You know things are not right.

Responses

We were very sorry to learn that you are unhappy with the care that your wife received during the birth of your baby at Leighton Hospital.

We aim to ensure that our patients receive high quality care on all our wards so thank you for raising your concerns so that we can make improvements in the areas you have highlighted.

The Patient Experience Manager works with staff to ensure patient feedback is used to improve and develop services. We conduct a number of patient interviews with women who have delivered their baby at Leighton, as a method of obtaining feedback to ensure we identify any needs which are not being addressed.

A follow up appointment will be offered to your wife with a consultant to discuss your baby’s delivery.

Your wife may receive an information pack with details of this method of feeding back her experiences, but if not we would welcome her, if she feels able, to contact our Patient Experience Team to discuss her concerns further. She can do this via email to pals@mcht.nhs.uk or telephone 01270 612410